Information processing apparatus and information notification method therefor, and control program

ABSTRACT

To enable the host server side to be aware of the recovery of an error when the error is recovered by the user&#39;s power off/on operation, the most recent state regarding occurrences of errors at printer  16  (steps S 61  and S 62 ) is stored in the backup RAM  12   a  each time a status change occurs (steps S 63  and S 64 ), and when an user performs a power off/on operation and a printing device is re-activated (step S 65 ), if a most recent state at the time of the previous activation was in a state of service call error occurrence (step S 66 ), the current status of the printer  16  is then sent (steps S 68  and S 69 ).

This is a continuation of and claims priority from U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/198,964 filed Aug. 8, 2005, the content of whichis incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus andan information notification method thereof which notifies externaldevices of information of failures and the like occurring at imagecreation devices such as printers, and a control program for executingthe information notification method.

2. Related Background Art

Conventionally, in image creation devices such as printers, when anerror requiring repair by a service personnel (service call error)occurs, systems are known wherein the service call error information issent via a network to a host server at a service center of themanufacturer or distributor, and the service center side responds tosuch errors by dispatching service personnel to repair the imagecreation device at which the service call error occurred.

In addition, examples of methods of coping with errors occurring indevices such as image creation devices are as provided below.

(1) Jam information, and history information for ten most recent jamsfor locations of recurring jams, are received from the image creationdevice to determine whether or not a visit by a service personnel isnecessary (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-321931).(2) Upon occurrence of internal error, power is shut off after a stateinformation of the error occurrence is stored in a shift register, andthe error status is displayed when power is turned back on (see JapanesePatent Application Laid-Open No. S56-108151).(3) Flags are checked upon power-on to see whether or not a shutdown wasa result of continuous errors occurring within a predetermined amount oftime, and if so, the device is activated in an error occurrence statecorresponding to a stored error type information (see Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. H06-332581).

The devices disclosed in these patent literatures can also formulate asystem similar to the above-described system wherein error informationis sent to a host server via a network upon occurrence of error.

However, the above-described conventional systems had the followingproblems.

For instance, when a service call error occurs at a device, after theservice call error information is notified to the host server, a usermay attempt recovery from the error by shutting the power of the devicedown and then turning it back on (hereinafter referred to as “poweroff/on operation”). When the error of the device is recovered and anormal status is obtained by such power off/on operation, conventionalsystems were configured so as to not notify the host server accordinglysince it no longer constituted a state of error occurrence.

However, as a result, since the service center side is unaware of thefact that the service call error had been recovered, problems such aserroneously contacting the user or dispatching a service personnelexist.

When a service call error is restored by, for instance, a power off/onoperation by a user, even when the device has a normal status, it isdesirable that the host server is notified of the normal status whennecessary.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention is conceived as a response to theabove-described disadvantages of the conventional art.

According to one aspect of the present invention, preferably, aninformation processing apparatus, comprising communication means whichnotifies an external device of information of an image creation device,and detection means which detects occurrences of failures at the imagecreation device, is characterized in that the information processingapparatus further comprises storage means which stores a history ofoccurrences of failures detected by the detection means and configuredso that the stored contents are not deleted by an initialization processexecuted upon activation, and control means which makes thecommunication means perform status notification to the external devicewhen a history of failure occurrences is read, even when a failureoccurrence is not detected by the detection means upon activation.

When a failure occurring at the image creation device is recovered by anactivation of the image creation device, it is now possible to notify anexternal device side of the recovery of the failure of the imagecreation device.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a printingdevice which includes an information processing apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of anetwork system which includes the printing device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing an operation of a printing device inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a packet data sent upon erroroccurrence in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a packet data sent uponnotification of normal return of an error in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a response to an errornotification or a notification of a normal return in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a module configuration in accordance with anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described indetail with reference to the drawings. It should be noted that therelative arrangement of the components, the numerical expressions andnumerical values set forth in these embodiments do not limit the scopeof the present invention unless it is specifically stated otherwise.

A preferred embodiment of an information processing apparatus and aninformation notification method thereof, and a control program will bedescribed with reference to the drawings. The information processingapparatus of this embodiment can be applied for instance to printingdevices.

[Configuration of Printing Device]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of a printingdevice which includes an information processing apparatus in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention.

This printing device comprises an information processing apparatus 10,and a printer 16 which is a device. Various image creation devices suchas a copying machine, a digital multifunction device, a facsimile, alaser printer, an inkjet printer and a scanner can be used as theprinting device.

The information processing apparatus 10 comprises a CPU 11 whichexecutes programs (including a program which carries out thebelow-mentioned processing of FIG. 3) stored in a ROM 13. In order toperform network control and printer control, the CPU 11 comprehensivelycontrols each device connected to a system bus 17. A RAM 12, the ROM 13,a device controller (DVC) 14, a network interface card (NIC) 15 and ahard disk device (HDD) 19 is connected to the system bus 17.

In addition to the RAM 12 which functions as a main memory and a workarea etc. of the CPU 11, also configured is a backup RAM 12 a which hasa backup battery and is capable of storing counter information (numbersof copies made for each paper size, number of times documents read in,number of times applications used etc.), system information and statusinformation (including status flags) even when power is turned off.

Information stored in this backup RAM 12 a is configured so that thestored contents are not erased even when the device's power is turnedback on from off and an initialization process is performed duringactivation. Moreover, the storage means is not restricted to a backupRAM, but a flash memory and other embodiments can be used instead, aslong as such storage means have nonvolatile attributes.

The device controller (DVC) 14 controls the printer 16, and the networkinterface card (NIC) 15 exchanges data with an external network deviceor a personal computer (PC) in a duplex operation via an intranet LAN17. The hard disk device (HDD) 19 functions as an external storagedevice, and in addition to storing image data etc., it can also storethe above-described counter information, system information and statusinformation in place of the backup RAM 12 a. The CPU 11 performs theprocess of storing image data to storage media such as the hard diskdevice (HDD) 19.

[Overall Configuration of the Network System]

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of anetwork system which includes the printing device shown in FIG. 1.Incidentally, for this network system, a network based on, for instance,HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is assumed.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 21 denotes the printing device shown inFIG. 1 which sends device information such as counter information orerror information to a host server device 27 via the Internet 25 oneither a regular or a nonregular basis.

The personal computer (PC) 22 is capable of communicating with theprinting device 21 via the intranet LAN 17, and network printing isachieved by sending out a print job to the printing device 21. Thegateway devices 23 and 26 function as a firewall during connection tothe Internet 25.

A printing device 28 connected to the intranet LAN 29 has the sameconfiguration as the printing device 21 shown in FIG. 1, and besidesbeing used for network printing, it sends device information to the hostserver device 27. The host server device 27 is connected to the intranetLAN 29.

Incidentally, the number of PCs or printing devices may differ fromthose shown in FIG. 2.

[Operation of Printing Device in Accordance with an Embodiment of thePresent Invention]

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing software modules of the printingdevice 21 which is capable of communicating with an external system onthe host server device 27 side. In FIG. 7, the reference numerals 701through 709 correspond to the software modules of the printing device 21side.

A device interface 701 is an interface with the device controller 14 andprinter 16 shown in FIG. 1. Image creation device status including error(also referred to as “failure”) detected at printer 16 is notified viathe device interface 701. While the error may include the status ofprint jobs accumulated at the image creation device, for now, it ismainly assumed that the error is an image creation device failure. It isalso assumed that such image creation device failures include servicecall errors such as hard disk errors or pay counter errors, errors suchas paper jams, errors such as toner low and other warnings, an openeddoor, and a paper overload of a catch tray.

A state-event module 702 notifies a manager 704 of an error informationlist (error information of multiple types) received from the deviceinterface 701. The error information list notified by the deviceinterface 701 is based on the status of the image creation devicedetected by the various sensors at printer 16. This error informationlist changes over time, and therefore is categorized as variableinformation.

A status flag referenced to in step S66 in FIG. 3 is stored in anonvolatile storage means 706. The manager 704 checks this status flag(history) via a logic 705 upon power-on of the device followingpower-off.

When the status flag is “1” (“yes” in step S66), the manager 704 sendsfixed information corresponding to a unique identifier of the own devicealong with the error information list which is variable information to aSimple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) function module 707.

In this case, fixed information includes, for instance, information(such as client ID or version of application) embedded in a clientschema, and information embedded in a device schema (such as IP address,MAC address, device serial number, product name and product type), shownas reference numeral 401 in FIG. 4 and reference numeral 501 in FIG. 5.

The SOAP function module 707 requests a HTTP/SOAP client module 708 tocreate a markup language description based on the contents received fromthe manager 704 (fixed information and variable information), and tosend the created markup language description to a designated server.Information regarding the designated server can either be retained inadvance by the HTTP/SOAP client module 708, or included in the fixedinformation.

Upon receiving the variable information and the fixed information fromthe SOAP function module 707, the HTTP/SOAP client module 708 creates amarkup language description based on the client schema and a markuplanguage description based on the device schema, such as shown asreference numerals 401 and 501 in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, and a markuplanguage description based on an Alert schema (error list), shown asreference numerals 402, 403 and 502 in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

In this case, it is assumed that the schemas corresponding to eachvariable or fixed information are stored in advance in a storage sectionaccessible by the HTTP/SOAP client module 708.

The HTTP/SOAP client module 708 then sends the created markup languagedescription data to the designated server. The markup language may be,for instance, XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

A case where a status flag is “1” will now be described in detail.

When the status flag stored in the nonvolatile memory means 706 is “1”,the manager 704 sends a query request regarding the status of theprinter 16 to the device interface 701.

This status query request is made in order to determine whether anyerror has reoccurred. The device interface 701 can be configured so thatit detects various states through sensors in response to a request andanswers accordingly, or so that it responds to various states detectedin advance.

Based on the response of the device interface 701, when any type oferror is found to have occurred, the manager 704 sets the values of codeand major status to code values of identified types as variableinformation, and sets the above-described information related to the owndevice as fixed information, and hands these information to the SOAPfunction module 707 (it is also conceivable to have the HTTP/SOAP clientmodule 708 itself obtain the variable information and the fixedinformation from the SOAP function module 707). The values of thevariable information and the fixed information are specified as to whatthe values represent, and then handed to the SOAP function module 707.

On the other hand, when no errors are found to have occurred based onthe response of the device interface 701, the manager 704 sets thevariable information so that it reflects that there are no errors(values of code and major status are “0”), and sets the above-describedinformation related to the own device as fixed information, and handsthese information to the SOAP function module 707. Again, the values ofthe variable information and the fixed information are specified as towhat the values represent, and then handed to the SOAP function module707.

The SOAP function module 707 requests the HTTP/SOAP client module 708 tocreate a schema-based markup language description based on the fixedinformation and variable information (including “0” as code and majorstatus values) received from the manager 704, and to send the createdmarkup language description to a designated server. Again, the values ofthe variable information and the fixed information are specified as towhat the values represent, and then handed to the HTTP/SOAP clientmodule 708.

Upon receiving the request, the HTTP/SOAP client module 708 determineswhat the values represent, reads in corresponding schemas, and based onthe read schemas and delivered values, creates a markup languagedescription based on the schemas as shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5.

Through the above process, the HTTP/SOAP client module 708 creates amarkup language description based on the requested fixed information andvariable information as well as the corresponding schemas. Thus, markuplanguage description based on schemas embedded with identifiers offailures of types that have not occurred is not created, and markuplanguage description based on schemas embedded with identifiers offailures of types that have been identified is created.

In addition, when status flags (history) are read upon activation and nooccurrence of failures is identified, it is also possible to create amarkup language description based on schemas embedded with identifiersindicating that no failures have occurred.

Meanwhile, at the host (an external system 710 in FIG. 7) side,transition of failures is managed based on an analysis of the markuplanguage description notified by the HTTP/SOAP client module 708 via thegateway. In particular, when an identifier indicating that no failureshave occurred is identified through analysis, as shown in FIG. 5, arecovery of a failure can be identified for failures that have beenmanaged as occurred failures.

To be more precise, as the markup language descriptions shown in FIG. 4and FIG. 5 are received, the error status of each device and each typeis constantly updated. The updated error status is stored in the storagesection.

Then, when an identifier (values of code and major status) correspondingto a type of failure that had occurred prior to the update is notincluded in the received markup language description and therefore isnot confirmed, the failure type is identified as recovered. Inparticular, when receiving the markup language description data shown inFIG. 5, for instance all errors previously stored will be consideredrecovered and the host side device information will be updated as havinga normal status. Thus, wasteful dispatching of service personnel and thelike resulting from unrecovered error occurrences can be avoided.

Incidentally, while the above description provides that the SOAPfunction module 707 notifies HTTP/SOAP client module 708 of variousinformation, the HTTP/SOAP client module 708 can be configured so thatit voluntarily obtains the above-described fixed information andvariable information from the SOAP function module 707.

The operation of the printing device 21 shown in FIG. 1 in the aboveconfiguration will now be described with reference to FIG. 3.

Incidentally, FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing an operation of theprinting device 21 in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

First, in step S61, the CPU 11 detects whether or not the status of theprinter 16 has changed. The method of detection may be any method aslong as the status of the printer can be identified, such as a methodfor detecting the values of various sensors, or a method for recognizingnonresponses.

When a status change has occurred at printer 16, and a service callerror (for instance, types of errors which require repair by a servicepersonnel, such as hard disk errors or pay counter errors) has occurred,the service call error information is sent to a host server device 27using a packet shown in FIG. 4 below (T1). The response T2 from the hostserver device 27 in regards to this notification is a response packetshown in FIG. 6 below. In this case, the response is<result>OK</result>, meaning that the service call error information hasbeen successfully received.

Additionally, when a service call error has been recovered, normalreturn information is sent to the host server device 27 using a packetshown in FIG. 5 below.

In the next step S62, the current status of the printer 16 is determinedto be either in a state of service call error occurrence or a normalstate. As a result of this determination, if the printer 16 is in astate of service call error occurrence, the routine proceeds to stepS63, and if not, the routine proceeds to step S64. Meanwhile, errorssuch as door open that are not service call errors can also bedetermined as “yes” in step S62.

In step S63, the value “1” is written into a status flag memory area ofa backup RAM 12 a, and the routine returns to step S61. On the otherhand, in step S64, the value “0” is written into the status flag memoryarea of the backup RAM 12 a, and the routine returns to step S61.

Step S65 is the state continuing after a power off/on operation by auser. In step S65, the printer 21 executes an initialization process. Inthis case, “initialization process” means a process wherein a memory isinitialized, read-in is performed from nonvolatile storage means ofvarious control programs, and at the same time a switch indicatingwhether or not activation is necessary is referenced, and a scheduleinformation indicating a URL or port of the host server device 27 andthe transmission interval between the host server device 27 isreferenced upon activation.

In the following step S66, the status flag stored as history in thebackup RAM 12 a is referenced, and if the status flag is “1”, theroutine proceeds to step S67, while a “0” terminates the presentprocess. In other words, a “1” status flag indicates that the mostrecent status of the printing device at the time of its previousactivation was a state of occurrence of a service call error (or othererrors). When certain predetermined conditions are met upon conclusionof the processes of this flowchart, the printer 16 externally notifiesits status. Regarding the predetermined conditions, various conditionscan be assumed such as a case of arrival of a status notification timingaccording to a timer inside the device, a case where an accumulation ofhistory of various or a specific status reaches a certain level ornumber, a case where a status requiring emergency notification hasoccurred, or a case where a status request is received from the hostserver device 27 or other external devices.

In step S67, it is determined whether a service call error (or othererrors) is currently occurring. In other words, it is determined whethera service call error (or other errors) is still occurring upon thecurrent activation. If a service call error (or other errors) iscurrently occurring, the routine proceeds to step S68, and if not, theroutine proceeds to step S69.

In step S68, a service call error notification indicated by the packetshown in FIG. 4 is made (T3), thereby concluding this process.

On the other hand, in step S69, a normal return notification indicatedby the packet shown in FIG. 5 below is made (T4) to the host serverdevice 27, thereby concluding this process. For instance, while a mostrecent status of the printing device 21 at the time of the previousactivation was in a state of service call error occurrence, since theservice call error has been recovered upon the current re-activation,the recovered state is notified to the host server device 27.

Then, as a response to the normal return notification (T5), the responsepacket shown in FIG. 6 is returned. The response is, again,<result>OK</result>.

In addition, in response to receiving and identifying the responsepacket of FIG. 6, the printing device 21 clears the status flagreferenced in step S66 of FIG. 3. By doing so, it will now becomecapable of obtaining a “no” result in the event that a re-examination isperformed in step S66. This clearing process inhibits a normal returnnotification of a redundant step S69 when power-off is followed bypower-on, thereby inhibiting increase of unnecessary traffic.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the most recent stateregarding occurrences of service call errors (or other errors) atprinter 16 (steps S61 and S62) is stored in the backup RAM 12 a eachtime a status change occurs (steps S63 and S64), and when a userperforms a power off/on operation and a printing device is re-activated(step S65), if a most recent status at the time of the previousactivation was in a state of service call error occurrence or anoccurrence of other errors (step S66), the current status of the printer16 is then sent (steps S68 and S69).

This enables the host server device 27 side to be aware of the recoveryof a service call error when the error is recovered by the user's poweroff/on operation.

In particular, while sending a current status to the host server device27 side each time the printing device is re-activated due to the user'spower off/on operation will result in increased traffic, the presentembodiment provides step S66 wherein a current status is sent only whenthe most recent state at the time of the last activation was a state ofoccurrence of certain errors (service call error state), therebyefficiently notifying the host server device 27 of a recovery of aservice call error without increasing traffic.

Incidentally, while the above description calls for an errornotification to be made in step S68 as notification to the host serverdevice 27 after re-activation due to a power off/on operation, suchnotification may be restricted to only a normal return notification instep S69, instead of performing the error notification in step S68. Thiswill further inhibit traffic.

Additionally, in the above description, while the error at printer 16which is a device was restricted to service call errors such as harddisk errors or pay counter errors, this may be applied to errors such aspaper jams, or errors such as warnings for toner low or the like.

Packet data to be used for notification in the present embodiment willnow be described.

Example of Packet Data for Error Notification

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a packet data of a markuplanguage sent upon error notification (T1 and T3 in FIG. 3) inaccordance with the present embodiment. The packet data description isbased on a schema. The packet data is an example of a packet data whichuses SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) over HTTP and is sent from theprinting device 21 to the host server device 27 in order to notify error(referred to as em_postAlert).

This data is written in XML (eXtensible Markup Language) format.Obviously, applicable format is not restricted to XML. For instance,HTML (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) may be used instead. The postAlertpacket is a command which notifies error information to the host serverdevice 27 when an error occurs at the printer 16, and containsinformation such as the packet source shown in FIG. 4 which indicatesfixed information, client information (<client> tag) which indicates thedevice that is the source of the error, or an alert information list(<alertList> tag) which indicates variable information. The <client> tagincludes <id> which identifies a client, <type> which identifies thetype of a client, and <appVersion> which identifies the version of anapplication. In addition, the alertList includes a <device> list whichidentifies a device, an <alert> list, as well as counter information<counterList>.

Furthermore, in <device>, as fixed information, <mac> which identifiesthe lower 4 bytes of a MAC address which is the destination of thepacket, <ip> which identifies an IP address, serial number<serialNumber>, product name <productName> and type <type> arerespectively described. Meanwhile, in <alert>, an error code <code>, itsmajor division <major status>, textual information indicating the error<opmessage>, and time stamp information <timestamp> are respectivelydescribed.

In the <counterList>, a service mode number <id> and <value>, which is acounter value designated by the service mode number, are respectivelydescribed.

Incidentally, in the above description of FIG. 4, “client” refers todevices such as printers.

Example of Packet Data for Normal Return Notification

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a packet data sent uponnotification of normal return of error (T4 in FIG. 3) in accordance withthe present embodiment. In the same way as FIG. 4, the description ofthis packet data is also based on a schema. The packet data is anexample of a packet data which uses SOAP over HTTP and is sent from theprinting device 21 to the host server device 27 in order to notifynormal return (referred to as em_postAlert).

While the same schema as the packet data shown in FIG. 4 is used, in<alert>, error code <code> and major division <majorstatus> are both setto “0” while textual information indicating error <opmessage> is set to“NULL”. By setting <alert> in this manner, this packet indicates that anerror has been recovered.

Additionally, since a device can be specified by <mac> which identifiesthe lower 4 bytes of a MAC address which is the destination of thepacket, <ip> which identifies an IP address, and serial number<serialNumber>, respectively included in the <device> tag shown in FIG.4, it is possible to specify the device where an error was recovered.

Furthermore, while em_post Alert is used as a schema to notify recoveryof an error, other SOAP functions may be used instead.

In this manner, since a notification of a normal return from an error asshown in FIG. 5 can be performed using the same alert schema (<alert>)as in FIG. 4, the notification format can be simplified. As a result,processing at the host server device 27 side which receives thenotification can be made more efficient.

For example, a schema indicating a notification of a normal return froman error can be provided separately from the alert schema. However, as apreferred embodiment, the present embodiment calls for an alert schema502 to be first analyzed at the host server device 27 side, and a valuedescribed by the same <majorstatus> schema as 402 in FIG. 4 to beidentified as “0”, thereby determining recovery of a service call error.As a result, schema determination processing at the host server device27 side can be alleviated.

Example of a Response to a Notification

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a response to an error notification (FIG. 4)or a normal return notification (FIG. 5) in accordance with the presentembodiment, and is written based on a schema in the same manner as FIG.4 and FIG. 5.

This data is also written in XML format in the same manner as the packetdata in FIG. 5, and in the present embodiment, is sent/received usingSOAP over HTTP. In an em_postAlert response packet, “OK” or “NG” isdescribed as a result information <return> in response to theem_postAlert command, and then returned.

Other Embodiments

The above-described first embodiment is configured so that the printingdevice is provided with a function to notify status to the host serverdevice 27. However, other configurations wherein the printing devicesends notification to the host server device 27 via a device monitoringdevice is also possible.

This device monitoring device monitors the status and counter values ofone or a plurality of printing devices, and notifies the host serverdevice 27 of the status and counter values of the printing deviceseither voluntarily or in response to a request from the host serverdevice 27.

In addition, while the host server device 27 is described as being onedevice in FIG. 2, the present invention is not restricted to thisconfiguration. A host server system comprising a plurality of devicescan be used to achieve the same function as the host server device 27.

The present invention is not restricted to the device according to theabove-described embodiment, and can be applied to systems comprising aplurality of devices, as well as to an apparatus consisting of a singledevice. It is needless to say that the present invention can also berealized by supplying a system or a device with a storage media storinga program code of a software capable of achieving the function of theabove-described embodiment, and having a computer (or a CPU or MPU) ofthe system or device read out and execute the program code stored in thestorage media.

In this case, the program code itself, read out from the storage media,achieves the function of the above-described embodiment, and the storagemedia storing the program code constitutes the present invention.Storage media which can be used to supply the program code include, forinstance, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an opticaldisk, a magnetic optical disk, a CDROM, a CDR, a magnetic tape, anonvolatile memory card, and a nonvolatile memory. It is needless to saythat the present invention also includes cases wherein executing theprogram code read by a computer not only realizes the function of theabove-described embodiment, but an OS or the like running on thecomputer performs either a portion or the entirety of the actualprocessing based on instructions of the program code, and suchprocessing realizes the function of the above-described embodiment.

Furthermore, it is needless to say that the present invention alsoincludes cases wherein a program code is first written onto either afunction expansion board inserted into the computer or a functionexpansion unit connected to the computer, and a CPU or the like providedon the expansion board or expansion unit performs the expanded functionsto carry out either a portion or the entirety of the actual processingbased on instructions of the program code, and such processing realizesthe function of the above-described embodiment.

This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application Nos.2004-231243 filed on Aug. 6, 2004 and 2005-164585 filed on Jun. 3, 2005,which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

1. An information processing apparatus comprising: a communication unitadapted to communicate with an external apparatus; a determination unitadapted to, upon activation of an image forming apparatus, determinewhether or not a history of a failure occurrence detected in the imageforming apparatus and sent to the external apparatus via thecommunication unit is stored in a storage unit provided in the imageforming apparatus and whether the image forming apparatus has a normalstatus, wherein the storage unit is configured such that stored contentsare not deleted by an initialization process executed upon activation ofthe image forming apparatus; and a control unit adapted to control saidcommunication unit to send a normal return notification to the externalapparatus when said determination unit determines that the history ofthe failure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and the imageforming apparatus is in the normal status upon activation of the imageforming apparatus, wherein the normal return notification is describedby a markup language description and indicates that the failure sent tothe external apparatus via the communication unit has been recovered inthe image forming apparatus, and wherein the normal return notificationis sent to the external apparatus without a request from the externalapparatus upon activation of the image forming apparatus.
 2. Aninformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, furthercomprising: a reception unit adapted to receive, from the externalapparatus, a response based on the normal return notification, and adeletion unit adapted to delete the history of the failure occurrencestored in the storage unit, in accordance with the reception of saidresponse by the reception unit.
 3. An information processing apparatusaccording to claim 1, wherein the failure occurrence indicates a servicecall error.
 4. An information processing apparatus according to claim 1,wherein the information processing apparatus is embedded in the imageforming apparatus.
 5. An information processing apparatus comprising: acommunication unit adapted to communicate with an external apparatus; adetermination unit adapted to, upon activation of an image formingapparatus, determine whether or not a history of a failure occurrencedetected in the image forming apparatus is stored in a storage unitprovided in the image forming apparatus, wherein the storage unit isconfigured such that stored contents are not deleted by aninitialization process executed upon activation of the image formingapparatus; a detection unit adapted to detect failure upon activation ofthe image forming apparatus; and a control unit adapted to control saidcommunication unit to send a normal return notification to the externalapparatus when said determination unit determines that the history ofthe failure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and the imageforming apparatus is in the normal status upon activation of the imageforming apparatus, wherein the normal return notification is describedby a markup language description and indicates that the failure sent tothe external apparatus via the communication unit has been recovered inthe image forming apparatus, wherein said control unit controls saidcommunication unit to send a particular notification to the externalapparatus when said determination unit determines that the history ofthe failure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and the detectionunit detects failure upon activation of the image forming apparatus, andwherein the particular notification is described by a markup languagedescription based on a schema embedded with an identifier of a type ofthe failure detected by the detection unit.
 6. An information processingapparatus comprising: a communication unit adapted to communicate withan external apparatus; a determination unit adapted to, upon activationof an image forming apparatus, determine whether or not a history of afailure occurrence detected in the image forming apparatus is stored ina storage unit provided in the image forming apparatus, wherein thestorage unit is configured such that stored contents are not deleted byan initialization process executed upon activation of the image formingapparatus; a detection unit adapted to detect failure upon activation ofthe image forming apparatus; and a control unit adapted to control saidcommunication unit to send a normal return notification to the externalapparatus when said determination unit determines that the history ofthe failure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and said detectionunit does not detect the failure upon activation of the image formingapparatus, wherein the normal return notification indicates that thefailure sent to the external apparatus via the communication unit hasbeen recovered in the image forming apparatus, wherein said control unitcontrols said communication unit to send a particular notification tothe external apparatus when said determination unit determines that thehistory of the failure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and saiddetection unit detects the failure upon activation of the image formingapparatus, and wherein the particular notification indicates a type ofthe failure detected by said detection unit.
 7. An informationnotification method carried out in an information processing apparatushaving a communication unit adapted to communicate with an externalapparatus, the method comprising: determining, upon activation of animage forming apparatus, whether or not a history of a failureoccurrence detected in the image forming apparatus and sent to theexternal apparatus via the communication unit is stored in a storageunit provided in the image forming apparatus and whether the imageforming apparatus has a normal status, wherein the storage unit isconfigured such that stored contents are not deleted by aninitialization process executed upon activation of the image formingapparatus; and controlling a communication unit to send a normal returnnotification to the external apparatus when the determining determinesthat the history of the failure occurrence is stored in the storage unitand the image forming apparatus is in the normal status upon activationof the image forming apparatus, wherein the normal return notificationis described by a markup language description and indicates that thefailure sent to the external apparatus via the communication unit hasbeen recovered in the image forming apparatus, and wherein the normalreturn notification is sent to the external apparatus without a requestfrom the external apparatus upon activation of the image formingapparatus.
 8. An information notification method carried out in aninformation processing apparatus, the method comprising: determining,upon activation of an image forming apparatus, whether or not a historyof a failure occurrence detected in the image forming apparatus isstored in a storage unit provided in the image forming apparatus andwhether the image forming apparatus has a normal status or a failure,wherein the storage unit is configured such that stored contents are notdeleted by an initialization process executed upon activation of theimage forming apparatus; controlling a communication unit to send anormal return notification to an external apparatus when the determiningdetermines that the history of the failure occurrence is stored in thestorage unit and the image forming apparatus is in the normal statusupon activation of the image forming apparatus; and controlling thecommunication unit to send a particular notification to the externalapparatus when the determining determines that the history of thefailure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and the image formingapparatus has the failure upon activation of the image formingapparatus, wherein the normal return notification is described by amarkup language description and indicates that the failure sent to theexternal apparatus via the communication unit has been recovered in theimage forming apparatus, and wherein the particular notification isdescribed by a markup language description based on a schema embeddedwith an identifier of a type of the failure.
 9. An informationnotification method carried out in an information processing apparatus,the method comprising: determining, upon activation of an image formingapparatus, whether or not a history of a failure occurrence detected inthe image forming apparatus is stored in a storage unit provided in theimage forming apparatus and whether the image forming apparatus has afailure, wherein the storage unit is configured such that storedcontents are not deleted by an initialization process executed uponactivation of the image forming apparatus; controlling a communicationunit to send a normal return notification to an external apparatus whenthe determining determines that the history of the failure occurrence isstored in the storage unit and the image forming apparatus does not havethe failure upon activation of the image forming apparatus, wherein thenormal return notification indicates that the failure sent to theexternal apparatus via the communication unit has been recovered in theimage forming apparatus; and controlling the communication unit to senda particular notification to the external apparatus when the determiningdetermines that the history of the failure occurrence is stored in thestorage unit and the image forming apparatus has the failure uponactivation of the image forming apparatus, wherein the particularnotification indicates a type of the failure.
 10. A non-transitorycomputer-accessible data storage medium storing computer instructionsconfigured to cause a computer system to implement an informationnotification method in an image forming apparatus having a communicationunit adapted to communicate with an external apparatus, wherein thecomputer instructions comprise: instructions for determining, uponactivation of the image forming apparatus, whether or not a history of afailure occurrence detected in the image forming apparatus and sent tothe external apparatus via the communication unit is stored in a storageunit provided in the image forming apparatus and whether the imageforming apparatus has a normal status, wherein the storage unit isconfigured such that stored contents are not deleted by aninitialization process executed upon activation of the image formingapparatus; and instructions for controlling the communication unit tosend a normal return notification to the external apparatus when thehistory of the failure occurrence is determined to be stored in thestorage unit and the image forming apparatus is in the normal statusupon activation of the image forming apparatus, wherein the normalreturn notification is described by a markup language description andindicates that the failure sent to the external apparatus via thecommunication unit has been recovered in the image forming apparatus,and wherein the normal return notification is sent to the externalapparatus without a request from the external apparatus upon activationof the image forming apparatus.
 11. A non-transitory computer-accessibledata storage medium storing computer instructions configured to cause acomputer system to implement an information notification method, whereinthe computer instructions comprise: instructions for determining, uponactivation of an image forming apparatus, whether or not a history of afailure occurrence detected in the image forming apparatus is stored ina storage unit provided in the image forming apparatus and whether theimage forming apparatus has a normal status or a failure, wherein thestorage unit is configured such that stored contents are not deleted byan initialization process executed upon activation of the image formingapparatus; instructions for controlling a communication unit to send anormal return notification to an external apparatus when the determiningdetermines that the history of the failure occurrence is stored in thestorage unit and the image forming apparatus is in the normal statusupon activation of the image forming apparatus; and instructions forcontrolling the communication unit to send a particular notification tothe external apparatus when the determining determines that the historyof the failure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and the imageforming apparatus has the failure upon activation of the image formingapparatus, wherein the normal return notification is described by amarkup language description and indicates that the failure sent to theexternal apparatus via the communication unit has been recovered in theimage forming apparatus, and wherein the particular notification isdescribed by a markup language description based on a schema embeddedwith an identifier of a type of the failure.
 12. A non-transitorycomputer-accessible data storage medium storing computer instructionsconfigured to cause a computer system to implement an informationnotification method, wherein the computer instructions comprise:instructions for determining, upon activation of an image formingapparatus, whether or not a history of a failure occurrence detected inthe image forming apparatus is stored in a storage unit provided in theimage forming apparatus and whether the image forming apparatus has afailure, wherein the storage unit is configured such that storedcontents are not deleted by an initialization process executed uponactivation of the image forming apparatus; instructions for controllinga communication unit to send a normal return notification to an externalapparatus when the determining determines that the history of thefailure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and the image formingapparatus does not have the failure upon activation of the image formingapparatus, wherein the normal return notification indicates that thefailure sent to the external apparatus via the communication unit hasbeen recovered in the image forming apparatus; and instructions forcontrolling the communication unit to send a particular notification tothe external apparatus when the determining determines that the historyof the failure occurrence is stored in the storage unit and the imageforming apparatus has the failure upon activation of the image formingapparatus, wherein the particular notification indicates a type of thefailure.